Calf roping is a very popular rodeo event which developed from a skill that was needed for cattle ranching in this country and many others. The popularity of calf roping, both for the participants and for the spectators, is probably attributable to a number of factors. Calf roping requires the use of a highly trained horse and requires the roper and the horse to work as a finely coordinated team. Roping skills are also paramount for the roper. Also, while the roper must be agile and reasonably strong to be a serious competitor in this event, the event does allow participants of varying physiques and ages to participate, unlike a number of the other rodeo events which highly favor participants of a particular physique and a younger age.
The principal difficulty that many calf roping participants face in regard to developing and improving their skills is how to get the sufficient practice repetitions. Practice ordinarily includes the use of the roper's horse that would be used in the rodeo event, since horse training and team coordination of roper and horse are paramount. Further, the roper's horse will usually be readily available to the roper for practice. The same is not true of the target animals, the calves. The calves used for this rodeo event are usually in the range of 200 to 300 pounds. In order to be an effective competitor, a roper must engage in substantial repetitive practice. Most professional calf ropers can complete the roping and tying of a calf in approximately seven seconds, and the current world record is approximately six seconds. Unless there are a large number of calves in this weight range available for practice, or animals are used repetitively in an inhumane manner, i.e., excessive numbers of repetitions, adequate live animal practice is beyond the reach of most competitors.
Because of the interest in this rodeo event, and the very limited availability of live practice animals to the average participant, a number of calf roping training devices have been developed with the goal in mind of allowing a participant to improve his or her calf roping skills without the use of live animals. Unfortunately there has not been a suitable apparatus developed to provide for realistic simulation of all of the aspects of the calf roping event.
For the event, a target calf is released, at a signal from the roper, from a chute which is located to the right of a pen or “box” where the roper sits mounted on her or his horse. The horse is restrained by a rope across the front of the box which is attached to a trip lever. The calf has a lightweight rope, usually twenty eight (28) feet long around its neck which is attached to the trip lever. As the calf runs away from the chute it gets to the end of the lightweight rope which causes a tug on the rope, causing the rope to fall off the calf and tripping the trip lever. The trip lever starts the timer and drops the rope across the front of the box, thereby releasing the horse and the roper to pursue the calf, which has a head start.
Typically the target calf will run directly away from the chute and the pursuing roper. The horse and roper will close on the target calf and the roper will throw the larriot lasso at the appropriate time with the intent to lasso the head of the calf. Generally all ropers rope with their right arm and hand, even left hand dominant ropers. The preferred roping technique will result in the slip knot or “hondo” as it is called, which forms the lasso, ending up on the left side of the calf's neck. After the slack is pulled from the loop, the roper can place the hondo on the left or right side of the calf's neck by pitching the remainder of slack forward toward the calf either on the left or right side of the calf. Then the horse, on signal from the roper, begins the process of stopping and the roper begins the process of transitioning from the saddle to the ground. The forward momentum of the calve and the force of the rope cause the calf to rotate, usually to the left. The preferred position of the hondo on the left side of the neck of the target calf, assists in causing the calf to rotate to the left as the horse stops and actually begins to back up to retain tension in the rope.
As the dismounted roper approaches the calf, the calf is now facing the roper with the hondo still on the left side of the target calf's neck, which is nearer the roper as the roper approaches the calf from the front of the calf, slightly offset to the calf's left. The roper grabs the rope near the hondo with his left hand as he “blocks” the calf by pressing his knee against the breast of the calf which is kept facing him by the constant tension from the rope as the horse backs away as needed to keep tension on the rope. With her or his left hand on the hondo, the roper shifts to the left side of the calf and grabs the right rear flank of the calf. The roper then raises the front of the calf, lifts the calf off its feet slightly, rotates the calf laterally approximately ninety degrees (90°) thereby extending the target calf's legs away from the roper, and lowers the calf to the ground. The roper then grabs the right front leg and then the two hind legs a few inches above the hooves, ties these three legs together with a short rope called a “piggin string”, and raises his or her arms to signify completion, stopping the timer. The horse then backs off on the tension, and the calf is observed, usually for six seconds, to see if the calf's legs stay bound. If so, the roper will have completed a valid task and her or his score will be based upon the time from the tripping of the lever to the raising of her or his arms signaling completion.
In order to provide a realistic simulation of the calf roping experience an apparatus must provide for the following:
1. Allows the use of the roper's horse for repetitive training.
2. Simulates pursuit, roping, and post roping conditions for the horse.
3. Simulates pursuit, roping, calf handling, and leg tying conditions for the roper.
4. Simulates calf turning motion and resistive forces.
5. Simulates calf body size, shape, weight, and resiliency.
6. Simulates the motion and forces required for the roper to lift and invert a calf.
7. Simulates the movement and forces required by the roper to tie the two hind legs and the right front leg together.
All of the foregoing are needed in order to realistically simulate the calf roping experience and provide the type of simulated training experience that will be useful to a serious competitor and truly enjoyable for the mere recreational roper.
It is therefor an objective of the present invention to provide a simulated target calf for use in calf roping training that can be towed or otherwise motivated by a truck, SUV, ATV or other motorized vehicle and provide for simulation of the calf roping experience from start to finish.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a simulated target calf that will simulate calf running speed, roping target presentation, turning mechanics and forces, calf body inverting mechanics and forces, leg tying mechanics and forces, and calf body size, form, resiliency and weight.
It is a still further objective of the present invention to provide a simulated target calf for calf roping training with a support structure accommodating the motivation of the target calf at a simulated speed, the support structure having a pivoting joint and an inversion joint, providing for the turning of the target calf from a run away position to a facing position with the force of the rope applied by the horse after the calf is roped by the roper, and providing for the lifting and lateral rotation of the target calf as the target calf is inverted for the final leg tying task of the roper.